Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, was almost there!

For over 150 years, Mother Nature had been carefully guiding his "rebirth", and sculpting his mind to create the perfect "god" for humans to either fear, or revel. Though many things did change during his development; humans had mostly calmed down form their original, seemingly required warring states. They were now quite content to live within borders, and keep themselves separate from each other for a time. Conflicts still arose, but many were peacefully walked back to a point where they could continue to live in relative harmony. In many ways, they were similar to the early tribes of our friends in the adjacent universe; though, they were unaware of any such similarities to an unknown entity.

And so, Mother wisely chose to adapt her Spirits, and their abilities. Discord, and Gaea, being creations of the Demigod of Nature, took direct inspiration from their hostess in their abilities; though, one was more direct. Gaea was specifically created by Mother for the Everfree Forest, and it was even in her name! Discord, on the other hand, was a human-born Spirit, and thus required much mental distress, and manipulation. As a result, both of their powers were largely botanical, though Discord would begin to learn more, through his first year as king of the Everfree Empire.

Indeed, Mother left the old kingdom to her Spirits, of which were to rule for the next 100 years. She had grown to see how terribly she had reacted, far too often interjecting herself into the development of her planet. While she would still likely be directly involved in some matters, she resigned to simply observe her planet's evolution until she would see fit. Therefore, Gaea, Discord-- and his adopted daughter Eris--, began their first year as a royal family; albeit, it was a bit unconventional.

Discord and Gaea were not married, and an adopted child rarely took the mantles of a "Prince", or "Princess". Eris was not even the same species, relatively speaking. Eris was a Changeling drone, and could only communicate in their associated chirps, and other types of calls. Discord and Gaea could understand her perfectly, though; and they saw her as much a part of the "godly" family as each other.

As Mother intended, Gaea spent the first year trying to help Discord become more impulsive with his magic. It was difficult for her to see how she was supposed to take such an introverted man, and make him willing to cast spells on his own kind. It was a trick to even get him to cast spells on mock-ups of the humans; the man had become so entrenched with botanical types of magic, that he couldn't fathom casting a spell of irony. It took Gaea almost an entire month to get the man to use magic to take the wings off a fly!

"Come on, Discord," she would say, often groaning. "It is just an insect that populates in absolute droves! I understand I am to guard this forest, but you are not supposed to be like me."

"I know," Discord said, sighing. "Just, what do I do?"

"Just think," she said, patting his head. "What is the opposite of a fly?"

While Gaea felt she was talking to a child most of the time, she was elated the first time he finally did it. With a snap of his fingers, the fly's wings fell from its abdomen, sending it to the floor. While the joke fell flat, being as she had to spend an entire month to make him find it amusing, she was relieved that he finally got the hint. Eris was often a spectator to these, as she was the only other young one in the kingdom. The perception spell around the forest prevented other humans from interfering; Gaea slightly questioned this method from Mother, too. Discord was hardly able to mess with a fly, so why would this isolation help him with getting one over on his own species.

But, as time would stretch on, Discord would become a little more relaxed; he would become far more open to performing spells on the fly. As Mother had informed Gaea, the day she left them, Discord likely had a whole universe's worth of spells at his disposal; he would only be limited to his own knowledge. And knowledge he did posses. After nearly four months, Gaea decided to stop pushing so hard against Discord for using the plant-life around him; in fact, she started teaching him how to use flowers like the "Poison Joke" for other things.

She showed Discord something Mother had learned. If Discord focused with the Poison Joke while he was looking to perform an act, the flower would cooperate amazingly. But, if he were to become distracted, or to outright neglect focus on the flower, it would still comply with the user's wishes; though, it would come with a malicious twist. One of these, resulted in the creation of something the humans of the era would call, the "Monkey's Paw".

The first moment came when Gaea was trying to get Discord to make a sort of "Wishing Flower", whereas a user could blow on the bulb, and a wish would be granted upon successfully blowing off all the seeds in one breath. She had brought Discord two plant stems, which she had intentionally removed the flowers. Discord's first attempt, which followed Gaea's wishes down to the very idea, resulted in a relatively pretty flower that could grow in droves. Eris found it fun to play around with them; though, Gaea would often sterilize the plant of any spells for the little one. According to Discord, if they were to let a child's mind control such magic, it could come to an unfortunate conclusion.

The second attempt, intentionally neglected, did not produce similarly solid results. Discord made his attempt as vague as possible, even going so far as to leave the intent for the creation to be a flower absent from his mind. Upon a snap of his finger, the flowerless stem began to warp, and twist. It first began to develop what looked to be a wrist, while a hand-like structure populated the top side. Its color shifted gradually from dark green, so a two tone of a dark black coat, and light grey palm. Small black hairs, and wrinkle began to cover respective portions of the human-like object, eventually forming a recognizable paw. This object was, bluntly, a "Monkey's Paw".

Before Discord could even lay a hand on it, he felt a bit unsettled by the object. Not only was the hand without a body, but it was exuding a very dark magic, that he could only recognize from over six months ago. Preventing Gaea from touching it, he picked it up by the base of what seemed to be a segment of the forearm. He received the information he needed, and relayed the use to Gaea. He noted that it seemed that this object could grant any wish it's user desires, but that it will not likely live up to the spirit of the request. Discord also couldn't shake the feeling that it had an otherworldly origin, either; it was as if someone had used this cursed object before.

He handed the object to Gaea, telling her to dispose of the paw permanently; though, he did not say to destroy it. Discord let a bit of his conscious betray him, as he instructed her to simply toss it into one of the roads that ran beside the forest. Upon a questioning look from her, Discord said that just that little bit of Chaos could "even things out" within the human population while Discord was settling into his role.

The rest of his first year did resulted in their efforts finally bearing fruit. Discord didn't revel in it, but he was far more likely to cast a spell on some passing creatures, or items, "just to see what happened". Boredom with their limited companionship also played a role in this, as Discord did miss the friends he had a short while before. He loved Eris beyond anything else, and Gaea was quickly seeming to become an object of some sort of affection-- or an object of his "tests"; neither were exactly sure. But, this reminiscing of the good times the two years before reminded him of one thing.

The empire was empty. Yes, this city contained some wandering birds, small game, and even the occasional visit from his dear Errant-- who had become a mother, herself, now. But, they had no subject to rule, or to look after. No one to keep them company when things began to slow down in the days. And so, as the year began to wind down, Discord and Gaea met over late night tea to discuss the issue.

Discord had prepared the tea, unsure of how Gaea ever came across the drink; but, he was thankful to the creators that she had. While not as powerful as the coffee he had known in his previous life, it did enough to keep him awake a few hours longer. The two sat out on a balcony, jutting out from the two-bed chamber that they shared.

"Gaea?" Discord said softly, taking care not to wake Eris, who shared his bed.

"What is it, Discord?" she answered, looking over to her fellow Spirit as he stared out over the kingdom.

"Don't you think it's time we begin the next phase of our lives?" he said.

"And what would you mean by that, King Discord?" Gaea said, teasingly.

"Well, think about it," Discord said. "Not that I am implying that you haven't had the though cross your mind, but we are in a kingdom, with no one to rule."

Gaea nodded. "Oh, of course I have thought about that. But, you must remember, my dear, that Mother's perception filter will never let a human even notice these woods; so we wouldn't be able to really lure in any subjects."

Discord smirked at her. "And who says we need humans for a kingdom? We know plenty of creatures here that are somewhat capable of human-like behavior."

The queen blinked, looking to him. "You are not implying that we create a kingdom of animals, are you?"

"Indeed I am," Discord said, smiling. "And while you may be new to the forest, I happen to know a few friends who technically owe me a favor."

"And how will you get wild animals to behave in such a different environment?"

"You just leave that to me, my Queen. First, however, we need to begin restoring this kingdom. The distressed buildings, and overgrown pathways are an eyesore; no one would come living here without it being up to a decent standard."

Gaea nodded in agreement. Though she was slightly unsure how Discord would do it, she was positive he likely knew a few more things about this forest than she might. He had been in the forest for over a century, to her one and a half, anyway. So, she resigned to let him take the point, for the time being. She finished her tea, and took his empty cup as well to clean up ther area. Discord soon followed suit, as the two went their separate ways to their beds in the room.

Tomorrow, Discord was going to be a step closer to his idea of a true king.

Author's Note

If I didn't make it clear last Series, or in this Prologue, magic in this universe has to be very precise. If you don't keep your mind on the task, like pouring chemicals together, it WILL backfire. That's what was being taught, specifically. Discord was basically learning to make sure he knew what he wanted from a spell before casting it; though, in the future, if it's chaos he will cause, this will not matter.